Candidates for SA Undergrad-at-Large Senator (2 positions)

Omeed Firouzi

Background:Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, near Scranton. During my high school career, I first got involved in service, politics, and government, including serving as class President, student body vice president, running my state representative's reelection campaign, and working for President Obama's campaign. Since coming to GW, I've continued in that mold, serving as college Dems president and as an SA senator, among other things.Do you think the university should be more transparent in its budget, operations, and strategic planning processes?The university needs to be more transparent in its budget, operations, and strategic planning processes. A key way in which the SA can work to advocate for this transparency is to have the SA President discuss at each SA Senate meeting the progress and details of the budget, operations, and strategic planning process. Similarly, what can be done to ensure more transparency within the Student Association?I do support the posting of Senate meeting agendas, organization funding allocations, and committee reports online on the SA website. Every single time there has been an effort to genuinely increase transparency in the SA, I have supported legislation to do so. How would you work to increase student awareness of existing university services that many are often not aware of?I've done that in my career in the Senate already. In fact, I created an online centralized housing resource for students to go to on the SA website, and on the GW website, to rectify their situation if they believe that their rights under the Student Housing Bill of Rights have been violated and to find forms in one place where they can fill it out to get a refund or submit an emergency fix-it request. I hope to take on similar initiatives next year so more resources are more readily available to students online. Is the affordability of a GW education an important issue to you? Why?The affordability of education is important to me because education ought to be more like a service, not a business, and it is so crucial to the long term growth of all citizens and the prosperity of our future economy that we need to give everyone a fair shot. That's why I've advocated in the Senate for greater financial aid, hardship exemptions for juniors who cannot afford to live on campus in the future, and why I will continue to push the University to adopt cost-cutting measures endorsed by scholars and thinkers who are widely respected across the educational field. How will you advocate for increased university attention to student needs (whether related to academics, housing, health, student organizations, campus life, etc) while keeping in mind that increased spending on such initiatives could lead to higher costs of attendance for future students?An important point to note here is that increased spending on these initiatives does lead to bigger dividends for students in the long run at extremely limited cost to students and their families. For instance, I strongly supported the student fee increase, as one such example. However, I do think it's important that, while ensuring that student organizations and health services are well funded, that we cut back on areas where we do not need to spend as much money in order to make sure that the college experience is affordable for everyone. For example, the addition of unnecessary administrators and vice presidents, the creation of a textile museum, and the other perks can be eliminated. What are ways you would advocate for lower costs of attendance at GW (such as tuition and fees, housing, dining, charges for services, printing, SA fees, etc)?I've advocated in person to Dean Konwerski that we need to reduce the price of dining board cosponsorships for student organizations and reduce or eliminate unnecessary fees like the fee for late registration. I will continue to make the case for such policies, or similar ones, next year but I also will work with activist senators to increase free printing and allow for more affordable housing options for those required to live on campus, as I have done this year too. What are your thoughts on the new requirement that Juniors in the Class of 2018 and onward live on campus? How will you advocate for inexpensive housing alternatives to defray the impact of this policy?At first, I was very dismayed by the policy and that's why I spoke out against it. I personally reached out to Julia Susuni with whom I discussed my support for her efforts to provide for more affordable housing options for juniors in the class of 2018. Thanks to her advocacy, that happened but we still have a lot work to do and I intend to continue to push for hardship exemptions and other alternatives. How will you advocate for increased university engagement with students related to budgets and strategic planning?I hope that the SA President would say in his or her report at each Senate meeting the ongoing strategic planning and budget negotiations that GW is undertaking while these notes should also be posted online and be promoted by the GW Student Association.Do you supportGW Not For Profit’s proposalfor non-voting student representatives on the financial committees of the Board of Trustees?I do support this proposal 100 percent. I voiced support for a similar proposal this year in the Senate. My experience has been that having student representatives on the Board of Trustees is a good idea because that input can be useful for the Board to hear different perspectives other than those which they regularly hear. When I was student body VP in high school, I was the student representative to the Board of Trustees and that experience was for the best both for me and for the Board. How will you, in the position you are seeking on the SA, personally listen to the needs of students and their organizations?I always reach out by email and in person to the heads of student organizations that I represent as a Senator and I plan to do the same thing next year to ensure their wants and needs are met. I will visit these organizations' first general body or executive board meetings next year as well to hear their concerns and understand their priorities for the year.